Executive management group
This page is under review and will be updated over the next few months.
The new co-directors of the Scottish School for Primary Care (SSPC) are Katie Gallacher at University of Glasgow and Rosalind Adam at University of Aberdeen. Lisa Duncan (University of Aberdeen) joined the team as Deputy Director in October 2026, .
Dr Rosalind Adam (co-director)
Rosalind Adam is an academic general practitioner (GP) and a Senior Clinical Lecturer in Primary Care. Current research interests focus on: symptom management - particularly pain and fatigue, cancer in primary care and digital health and digital health interventions
Learn more about Rosalind Adam
Professor Katie Gallacher (co-director)
Katie Gallacher is Professor of General Practice and Primary Care in the School of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow, Co-Director of The Scottish School of Primary Care, and a GP Partner and Educational Supervisor in Glasgow. She has expertise in mixed methods research, with a special interest in research that explores and measures treatment burden in people with long-term conditions, in the development and testing of interventions including digital technology solutions, and in implementation science. She represents the Royal College of General Practitioners on the National Advisory Committee for Stroke, and in the UK Stroke Forum.
Learn more about Katie Gallacher
Lisa Duncan (deputy director)
Lisa Duncan is a PhD student and was previously a Research Assistant in the Academic Primary Care group at the University of Aberdeen. Her background is in health psychology and her PhD explores treatment burden in individuals living with and beyond cancer.
Associate Professor Lyndsay Alexander
Lyndsay Alexander is an Associate Professor in the School of Health at RGU and Co-Director of the JBI Scottish Centre for Evidence-Based Practice. A physiotherapist by background, her research focuses on evidence synthesis, review methodology and implementation. Her interests include musculoskeletal health, particularly tendinopathy, back pain and joint replacement, Long COVID rehabilitation, and the use of technology to support AHP services.
Learn more about Lyndsay Alexander
Mr Colin Angus
Colin Angus represents a patient perspective on several forums. Being a past patient chair of P3, a subgroup of RCGP (Scotland), he was involved in several national Primary Care initiatives. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from RCGP in 2020.
Colin is a public partner in NHS Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnership and Chairs his local Forum. He takes an active role in many groups including, Clydesdale GP Forum and Clydesdale Locality Planning Group and is a member of South Lanarkshire Seniors Together where he is involved in national consultations. He is involved as Chair of the PPIE Groups with Edinburgh University in two large research study projects and is a member of the NRS Primary Care Network PPI Group which sense checks would-be research proposals from a patient perspective prior to seeking funding.
He has presented at national events including the RCGP Annual Conferences, SARA Seminar, GP Society events and the Queens Nursing Annual Conference. As a member of Alliance Scotland, he has been involved in many focus groups and workshops and has represented them on several occasions. He is active, along with other patients, in establishing a Patient Participation Group in his local GP Practice.
Dr Heather Bain
Heather Bain is Head of the Centre for Rural Health Sciences at the University of the Highlands and Islands, with a background in district nursing, community healthcare and advanced practice. Her research and scholarly interests focus on professional knowledge, education and practice development, particularly the contribution of district nursing to strengthening primary and community care. She has a particular interest in translating research into education and practice to support workforce development, interdisciplinary collaboration and the delivery of care closer to home, including in remote and rural communities.
Professor David Blane
David Blane is an academic GP with expertise in mixed methods research at the University of Glasgow. He is the Academic Lead for the Deep End GP project in Scoltand and within the Institute of Health and Wellbeing he is the Deputy Lead for the Determinants of Health and Health Inequalities (DHHI) theme. He is also the Royal College of General Practitiners (RCGP) representative for Obesity Action Scotland and he is on the RCGP Health Inequalities Standing Group.
Associate Professor Barbara Farquharson
Barbara Farquharson is an Associate Professor in the Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professional's Research Unit (NMAHP), in the Faculty of Health Sciences & Sport, at Stirling University. She leads research applying behavioural science to issues in cardiovascular care: current funded projects focus on increasing rates of CPR in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and reducing patient delay with serious heart symptoms.
Learn more about Barbara Farquharson
Professor Bruce Guthrie
Bruce Guthrie is Professor of General Practice at the University of Edinburgh and a mixed methods health services researcher whose research focuses on multiple long-term conditions, quality and safety of healthcare, particularly in primary care, and care in later life.
Learn more about Bruce Guthrie
Dr Lisa Iversen
Lisa Iversen is a senior research fellow based in Academic Primary Care, University of Aberdeen, an epidemiologist by training, most of her research is based around women’s health and cancer.
Dr Margaret McCartney
Margaret McCartney is a is a practicing GP in addition to her academic role in St Andrews where she is the Director of the Centre for Evidence and Values in Healthcare. She is particularly interested in evidence based medicine, conflicts of interest, screening, risk, bias, and public communication about healthcare.
Learn more about Margaret McCartney
Dr Kevin McConville
Kevin McConville is a Clinical Reader at the University of Dundee and an academic general practitioner. Research interests include mental health, student support /performance management, professionalism, behavioural sciences and medical education.
Learn more about Kevin McConville
Dr Natalie Weir
Natalie Weir is a Lecturer at the University of Strathclyde and a community pharmacist. Her research focuses on the expansion of the role of pharmacy professionals in primary care, using mixed method and implementation science approaches. She is passionate about getting health care professionals more involved in research through skill development and confidence building. Her clinical teaching is varied but she is specifically interested in Clinical Decision Making theories, involving people with lived experience of conditions in teaching, and mental health and substance use stigma.
